by Mary Therese

Created on: July 07, 2008   Last Updated: June 13, 2011

Are you....

• Yearning for inspiration to start a new cross-stitching project?

• Tired of that growing stack of cross stitch books or magazines that only have one or two charts you are really interested in?

• Interested in building your library of patterns in a way that won't require much space or clutter your home?

The world wide web is a treasure trove of free cross stitch patterns that you can download and save to your computer and print only when necessary. The size of your collection is limited only by the size of your computer's hard drive.

Browsing sites with free patterns can inspire you, give you ideas to create your own charts, and motivate you to finish those projects you began buy haven't finished. Here are four websites that are a great start for those seeking free cross stitch charts:

[1] http://www.freepatternsonline.com/xspatterns.htm
This site offers an abundance of free patterns by Carrie Luhmann Pieniozek. The patterns are easy to access, well-organized into categories, and display very clearly on screen. Many patterns are great for novice stitchers as well as seasoned stitchers.

[2] http://www.yiotas-xstitch.com/freebies.php
Yiotas XStitch provides dozens of free patterns which can be read with Acrobat Reader. These patterns include color images, black/white chart, and legend. Many are for experienced stitchers or novices looking for a challenge. The catalog of free charts is not well-organized, so if you don't have a specific project in mind, this site can inspire you.

[3] http://crossstitchpro.com/free.htm
The webmaster posts a handful of patterns for a period of a month after which they are moved to a member's only area. While the site doesn't have a lot of free patterns at any one time, over time you can accrue a large library. What sets this site apart is their inclusion of free project instructions/tutorials with each free pattern.

[4] http://www.freepatterns.com/list.html?cat_id=6
This site offers hundreds of free patterns. This is a very attractive, highly-polished web site that is easy to navigate. The patterns are pdf files with high-quality color images and black/white chart with project instructions. The only catch is that you must become a member to access the patterns and this is free, but requires that you provide some contact information such as name and address.

Happy Stitching!

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